Laws of the People's Republic of China

Ministry of Finance, State Administration of Taxation

Supplementary Notice of the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation on Adjusting the Tax Refund Rate for Exported Goods

Caishui [2003] No. 238

December 2, 2003

The departments (bureaus) of finance and the bureaus of State taxes of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and cities directly under State planning, the Bureau of Finance of Xinjiang Production and Construction Army Corps:

The "Notice of the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation on Adjusting the Tax Refund Rate for Exported Goods" (Caishui [2003] No. 222) has prescribed the tax refund rates applicable to exported goods since January 1, 2004. Our supplementary notice concerning other relevant policies on tax refund for export is hereby giver as follows:

I.

Where the goods are exported by small-scale taxpayers on their own or by means of authorization, it shall continue to implement the tax exemption policies, and their tax amount on purchase items shall neither be deducted nor be refunded. If taxes are permitted to be refunded to export enterprises for their export of goods purchased from small-scale taxpayers, it shall apply a tax refund rate of 5% to any goods whose tax refund rate for export is prescribed by Document Caishui [2003] No. 222 to be 5%; and it shall apply to a tax refund rate of 6% to any goods whose tax refund rate for export is prescribed by Document Caishui [2003] No. 222 to be higher than 5%.

II.

Where products are exported within the "Catalogue on Export of Hi-tech Products" (2003 Edition), it shall uniformly comply with the tax refund rate prescribed in Document Caishui [2003] No. 222.

III.

Computer software in export (Customs Export Code: 9803) shall be exempted from taxes, and their tax amount on purchase items shall neither be deducted nor be refunded.

IV.

For the Chinese domestically produced articles and domestic labor services purchased by foreign embassies (consulates) to China and their diplomats, the domestically produced equipment purchased by foreign-funded enterprises and qualified for tax-refund conditions, as well as the mechanical and electronic products for which the domestic enterprise won the bid and for which international bid invitation was held by using loans of foreign governments and international financial organizations prescribed in Article 9 of the "Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on Some Issues Concerning Tax Refund for Export" (GuoshuiFa [2000] No. 165), as well as the ocean engineering structures sold by the production enterprises prescribed in the "Notice of the Ministry of Finance and the State Administrative Institution of Taxation on Applying VAT Refund to Ocean Engineering Structures" (Caishui [2003] No. 46) to domestic maritime petroleum and natural gas exploitation enterprises, taxes shall still be refunded, deducted or exempted according to the original policies.

The domestically produced equipment purchased by foreign-funded enterprises, with the taxes on which permitted to be refunded, covers a scope of domestically produced equipment purchased within China, which conforms to the investment projects in the catalogue of encouraged foreign investment industries in the "Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries", that is, Order No. 21 jointly promulgated by the former State Planning Commission, the former State Economic and Trade Commission and the former Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

The tax refund rate that is applicable to the "exemption or deduction" policies for the steel "specially used for processing export" sold by the named steel enterprises prescribed in the "Notice of the State Administration of Taxation, the State Economic and Trade Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Printing and Distributing the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Measures for Promoting Steel Production in Place of Steel Import" (GuoshuiFa [1999] No. 68) to processing trade enterprises shall be notified separately.

V.

The domestically sold or purchased goods other than those prescribed in Article 4 of the present Notice shall be deemed as the goods whose taxes are permitted to be refunded or exempted upon export. The "exemption, deduction or refund" of taxes shall be handled or the amount of "exempted or deducted" taxes shall be computed uniformly according to the tax refund rate prescribed in Document CaishuiFa [2003] No. 222. For such goods, the "tax amount not permitted to be exempted or deducted" shall be calculated and be converted into the costs.

The tax amount not permitted to be exempted or deducted = the sales amount named on common invoices”Į(tax levying rate of the sold goods £­ tax refund rate of the sold goods)

VI.

The present Notice shall enter into force as of January 1, 2004. The export date indicated by the customs on the "Customs Declaration List for Exported Goods (the sheet of tax refund for export)" shall be deemed as the time criterion for Articles 1 through 3 of the present Notice; while the time of issuance by the seller of common invoices shall be deemed as the time criterion for Articles 4 and 5.